Their First Encounter
by jax2u
Summary: Janet and Eddie met way before we knew them as "the girl behind the bar, and the legendary Eddie." And here's what happened.


She was there. New in town. Finally. Relaxing. Reflecting. Enjoying the weather. Taking in the scenery. Minding her self. Quietly. Reading. 14 pages later…

"Hey! You having fun? Whatcha doin here?"

"I'm, uh, reading."

"You're just sitting here chillen by yourself, reading…"

"Yeah?"

"Well that's cool! You come here a lot?"

"Nno. I just moved here so I haven't been in town long."

"Oh really? Did you move for school?"

"Yup! I go to school right over there." She pointed towards the west and he knew exactly where she attended. He smiled ever so coyly and nodded his light-brown haired head, as if he was already categorizing what kind of person she was.

She wasn't quite sure what he wanted, what he was up to, where he came from in this huge park, or why he just couldn't stop smiling. And most importantly, why he came up to her. Now. Tonight. But there he was, in his lil gardening cart, completely and utterly focused on her.

And so he asked. Continued to ask anyway, about her. Where she was from, what she has seen already in town, what sports she watches on tv, who her favorite Sox player was and why, how she likes her roommates, what she likes to do in her spare time, and the kicker of them all: what she wants to do with her life and in the future. As if anyone really knew how to answer that infamous question.

It wasn't until he made this comment that she realized he was _really_ interested: "It amazes me that I found a beautiful girl sitting alone in the park who's still single. When at first I thought, well maybe she came here alone to reflect because she had a fight with her boyfriend and needed to think… but no, she's single. Another plus."

Another plus. How she despised that phrase. It was like someone was adding her like a math problem. Oh but "another plus was how she's a Sox fan, carries great conversation and has the most beautiful smile." Yesss, that seemed to be God's flaw with creating her. That wretched smile, as she called it, is what usually grabbed people's attention and gets her in trouble. Didn't help that she was a giggly person to begin with, so she was always smiling.

By now it was sunset, the park lights flickered on and the music was faint, but it was still there. Classical. Music. She knew of the song but wasn't musically round enough to know the title or the composer. But before she realized she kindly said no, he asked her to dance. He asked in a sly way, so much so that she sort of felt bad that she stated she doesn't dance unless there is a significant amount of vodka in her system. Which was totally true, but it sort of would have been romantic if they did dance. However, the subject quickly changed to alcohol consumption and the infamous stupidity of their drunken pasts. She had to admit they did have many things in common, or so it seemed, and he was really nice… but he was already talking about the future. Together. And what her parents would think of him. He also was saying things that he just had to take her to and experience, go to Sox games together, cook dinners for each other, so on and so on. She didn't quite know how to take that. He didn't even officially ask her out on a first date and already he's talking about the future?!

As the night went on, she decided it was time to go. And over an hour later, he drove her down the block closer to her building in his lil cart. But before she crossed the street, he said he would most definitely call her after his shift was over, to make sure it wasn't a phony number she gave him. She knew it was highly unlikely that he would call that same day and told him she did not believe him too. But he reassured her he would; he's not _that_ guy.

He hugged her goodbye (it wasn't a pat-on-the-back hug either. It was a hug-hug,) and he waited just a little longer till he would leave. As she started to walk away, he yelled back at her to be careful walking home alone in the dark.

Awww. He does care.

A few hours later, after she told her roommate about the peculiar guy she met in the park that night, she had a new voicemail. Sure enough, it was him. Even though he seemed a lil creepy talking about all those future plans, she was still a girl and he was still a guy. So she listened to it.

"Hey Janet it's me Eddie. I was calling to see if you were up still, I sent you a text too to see if you were up but I guess not. I just wanted to say that it was really nice meeting you tonight. And I'm being completely honest and I think you're really beautiful and I would love to be able to take you out and show you a fantastic time. If you get this soon you can call me back, if not I'll call you again tomorrow. Or if you want, I'll be working in the park again tomorrow night so you could come by there and say hi. But I hope you have a great night and I'll talk to you soon."

She wanted to believe him, believe what she heard, believe what happened that night, yet there was something telling her to be careful. Something saying don't trust him completely, something saying this won't end good, something saying he's too good to be true. Was she too much out of his league? Maybe. Or maybe he was out of her league. He was a pretty boy. She, apparently, was a pretty girl. It was true; they seemed to have a lot in common. A lot of the small things were the same too. And to meet some one so random, so honest, so kind, to meet him just like she did, something had to be wrong. Something had to be off.

And it was. Totally off. She tried, at first, to make it work. Tried to like him as much as he seemed to like her. He just liked her too much. Too fast. And she didn't care who he was (that THE Eddie Latekka was only talking to her…), didn't matter if he was the Pope, she still would have done the same thing to any other guy. So she ended it. For now. After all, it was a small town and he was the town hottie and she was the new cute college student and she knew the odds of running into him were pretty big. For now, they just wouldn't try to get to know each other any more. She learned from experience to trust her instincts and to listen to her self more than to listen to some boy, no matter how much he tried to flatter her. No matter how much he implied he loved her. No matter how much he wanted to marry her. She knew if the timing was off, it was off.

And yes, he pushed after that. He pushed so hard to not let it happen. Tried to make her explain just why it wouldn't work, why they can't at least still talk instead of cutting ties all together. But no matter what she said, he wasn't listening. For hours they fought, and he still was not listening. God bless any boy who would not listen to her; she respected herself enough to know that she was right, this would not be good for her. He would not be good for her. And she respected herself enough to stick through with what she wanted and did not give in.

If he cursed her and hated her for it, well then, at least she didn't hate herself for not listening. And really, who knows what the future would bring.


End file.
